The new Saugus Middle/High School, which opened last September, will bring together of 1,300 students in a STEAM-driven complex outfitted for exploratory learning and innovation. The school is anchored by three building pods comprising a four-story high school wing, a three-story middle school wing, and a central connecting pod with shared community spaces.
Built on a 22-acre site adjacent to the old high school, students enter the 269,000-sf building onto the school’s “main street,” a central circulation route connecting public spaces within the school. This circulation route serves as a link between the 750-seat auditorium, cafeteria, gym, and Starbucks-style student cafe.
The school hosts grades six through twelve and separates the distinct middle and high school academic zones by the shared core spaces. Eighth and ninth graders share the same floor to ease the transition from middle into high school. Grade-level classroom pods establish small learning communities that are lit with natural light via large lightwells. Windows look into a multi-level lightwell to provide a visual connection between grade levels in order to foster a sense of shared space and experience. Students across all grades have access to maker spaces and tech shops such as a woodshed, a broadcast studio, and coding and web-aided design labs.
Classrooms were designed with flexibility in mind. They are 800 sf, 350 sf larger than a standard classroom space, to allow for easy adaptation and future flexibility. The building’s furniture and equipment can be quickly rearranged in response to specific project or group needs.
Each of the building’s three learning pods is characterized by one of Saugus’s vital industries: iron, ice, and lobstering. Each pod contains a custom mural communicating the story of its industry through a graphic lens. The history of each industry also informed color choices and materiality.
The high school space is illuminated by a large, sweeping lightwell that pays homage to 1600s ironwork technology. The overall form of the lightwell through which the shaft directs light draws inspiration from the Saugus Iron Works blast furnaces.
In addition to HMFH, the build team also included Suffolk Construction as the construction manager.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Feb 17, 2015
BD+C exclusive: How security is influencing campus design and construction
Campus crime—whether real or perceived—presents Building Teams with more opportunities for early-stage consultation with university clients.
Sponsored | Roofing | Feb 11, 2015
New school blends with local architecture using Petersen metal roof
Perkins Eastman in Stamford, Conn., designed the school to emphasize and integrate the International Baccalaureate curriculum throughout.
Architects | Feb 11, 2015
Shortlist for 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award announced
Copenhagen, Berlin, and Rotterdam are the cities where most of the shortlisted works have been built.
Cultural Facilities | Feb 6, 2015
Under the sea: Manmade island functions as artificial reef
The proposed island would allow visitors to view the enormous faux-reef and its accompanying marine life from the water’s surface to its depths, functioning as an educational center and marine life reserve.
Cultural Facilities | Feb 5, 2015
5 developments selected as 'best in urban placemaking'
Falls Park on the Reedy in Greenville, S.C., and the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Downtown Market are among the finalists for the 2015 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.
Higher Education | Feb 3, 2015
Integrated Learning Neighborhoods: A solution for linking student housing with the typical student experience
Just as urban housing fits into the city as a whole, student housing can be integrated into the campus network as a series of living/learning neighborhoods, write Gensler's Brian Watson and Mark McMinn.
| Jan 7, 2015
University of Chicago releases proposed sites for Obama library bid
There are two proposed sites for the plan, both owned by the Chicago Park District in Chicago’s South Side, near the university’s campus in Hyde Park, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
| Jan 7, 2015
4 audacious projects that could transform Houston
Converting the Astrodome to an urban farm and public park is one of the proposals on the table in Houston, according to news site Houston CultureMap.
| Jan 6, 2015
Snøhetta unveils design proposal of the Barack Obama Presidential Center Library for the University of Hawaii
The plan by Snøhetta and WCIT Architecture features a building that appears square from the outside, but opens at one corner into a rounded courtyard with a pool, Dezeen reports.
| Jan 2, 2015
Construction put in place enjoyed healthy gains in 2014
Construction consultant FMI foresees—with some caveats—continuing growth in the office, lodging, and manufacturing sectors. But funding uncertainties raise red flags in education and healthcare.
